Category Archives: World Adventures

Carmen Miranda was a film star and singer, instantly recognisable due to her flirty costumes, but perhaps not your typical style icon. However, the Brazilian Bombshell, forever associated with fruity accessories and flamboyance, is a major inspiration for Spring/Summer 2017. Not for her the little black dresses worn to death by everyone else…

Shoe designer Charlotte Olympia (who also has Brazilian roots) created an entire collection driven by Carmen Miranda’s unmissable style staples. I also spotted several pieces worthy of the great lady at Coco Fennell, Dolce & Gabbana and Marks and Spencer. Pack some of these pieces in your suitcase and your jet-setting will have an extra dose of fun.read more

‘All the world’s a stage’, but let’s remember that not all stages are equal. If you’ve sat through a performance in a cramped or strangely pungent space, you’ll know it can be quite distracting (unless you’re at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, in which case it can be a selling point, and the smell of damp is strangely comforting).

On World Theatre Day, it’s time to take a look at theatre facts: some of the strangest pieces of trivia from theatreland, including the playwright who became President, and the ghost who was used as a mascot.read more

Happy International Women’s Day! Being a feminist and being a travel addict can sometimes cause problems, from the politics of travel safety advice to the never-ending stream of sexist travel campaigns (ahem, Air New Zealand flight safety video featuring bikini-clad girls…). However, when you dig deeper, you’ll find enlightened feminist views across the world.

Today, the International Labour Organisation published the ILO-Gallup report, revealing that 70% of women and 66% of men (from nearly 149,000 people surveyed) would like women to be paid for their work. These positive findings included support from many women in countries where paid employment is rare, such as the UAE.read more

Ethical travel is a huge trend for 2017: in a nutshell, it means travelling in a way that consciously benefits the community or the environment as a whole (but not the thorny issue of voluntourism).

Eco hotels, local and seasonal food, independent local shops, charity initiatives, slow fashion, public transport and responsible dark tourism can all be factored into travelling more ethically.

I won’t claim to be 100% ethical when I travel, because that would be a lie. My suitcase usually contains as many pieces of fast fashion as it does charity shop finds, and I don’t turn down a meal that hasn’t been locally sourced, because life’s too short to be that fussy. Just give me a hot dog or a pastry and I’m a happy camper. That aside, I want to show that you can add some ethical accessories to your suitcase with very little effort, and on any budget.read more

Today marks Holocaust Memorial Day and, for as long as I can remember, this leads to annual news stories not just about commemorative events, but about the ignorance that a lot of us have around the Holocaust and everyone affected by it.

For a prime example, see the idiotic posers at the Berlin Holocaust Memorial, called out by the brilliant Yolocaust web project, which has now been taken down after mixed but generally positive feedback.

Sadly, anti-Semitism has never totally disappeared. There have been reports of Holocaust survivors being abused in the street and, in a cruel modern twist, Jewish Twitter users being targeted and mercilessly trolled because of their religion and heritage. Even Google search results have been manipulated by the far-right.read more

Kathryn Flett’s searingly honest piece of travel journalism, By Waterloo Station I Sat Down and Wept, was published in the Observer Life magazine in 1997. I was eight at the time, preoccupied with buying Girl Talk magazine, so this wasn’t exactly on my radar. Thankfully she’s reproduced the whole feature on her blog, which you can read here. Quick, go and read it now, and you’ll see why it’s so legendary.

When Flett got the assignment, it was a straightforward one: review this romantic Belgian hotel package with your husband. However, life got in the way (the small matter of the marriage lying in tatters in the world’s most romantic city). This led to one of the most unflinching features ever to grace the pages of a Sunday magazine supplement. Flett basically wrote a stream of consciousness and, unusually, ‘I didn’t change a single word after I’d written it’. The feature was pure catharsis.read more

2016 wasn’t exactly the happiest year on record – celebrities dropping like flies, not to mention Brexit and President Trump adding to our woes – but there were a lot of travel industry stories and trends making headlines as well. Here are some of the biggest developments from the last 12 months.

Europe was on high alert

Paris continued to mourn the victims of its terror attack, which happened at the close of 2015. Just days into 2016, the city marked a year since the Charlie Hebdo attacks.

Nice, Berlin and Istanbul sadly became newsworthy for all the wrong reasons in 2016 – Islamic State extremists struck again. These horrific acts have, of course, made people nervous about travelling, but they’ve also highlighted the scarily simple tactics terrorists employ.read more

‘Tis the season of Christmas shopping, frosty walks and winter minibreaks (at last!), but you need a winter wardrobe of reliable basics if you’re going to make the most of these colder months. Whether you’re wandering locally or heading overseas, have these winter wardrobe essentials close to hand and you’ll be travel-ready in an instant.

Your Adaptable Winter Wardrobe Ingredients

2x winter coats – one long and resilient, and one short, lightweight and fun

3x knitwear – a draped cardigan, a slim-fit jumper, and a knitted dress

The City Break

Drape the scarf over a knitted dress (I love this metallic khaki dress by JD Williams) and secure it with the skinny belt, à la Burberry circa 2014, for a stylish lunch date. Alternatively, team it with the jumper, skirt and trainers for a low-key adventure. Heels are great for evenings out, but not so useful for active breaks, so check your itinerary before you pack those stilettos. Your pair of knee-high boots or ankle boots act as a smart alternative.read more

When I reluctantly bought a chunky red puffer jacket to travel with in 2013, I was pretty embarrassed and filed it under ‘style sacrifices made in the name of adventure’, along with mosquito-proof trousers and walking boots. The thing is, few pieces of attractive clothing are travel-ready, and not much of the contents of your average outdoor shop is fashion-friendly. My jacket had suede elbow patches as a hilarious extra detail, for goodness’ sake.

Though it was really useful for visiting Iceland and Peru, I didn’t feel confident in my bright red monstrosity at all and would’ve preferred something that didn’t remind me of my style mistakes in the late 90s and early Noughties (read: huge Adidas blue and yellow boys’ padded coat, worn circa 1999-2001 and alternated with a lime green fleece. It’s a wonder I wasn’t put up for adoption).read more

Last night, for the princely sum of £5 (plus free Prosecco, guys!), I joined a room full of other ambitious 20-somethings and 30-somethings to learn about the barriers blocking our creativity. The venue, Angela Hartnett’s Cafe Murano in Covent Garden, was the ideal backdrop to a Grazia Collective panel of talented women from across the literary board.

“Give yourself permission for the first draft to be rubbish.” Laura Jane Williams

This wasn’t an evening of airy motivation talks about releasing the novel inside us all (bleurgh), or patronising sermons on ‘how to live your best life’ (further bleurgh). It was aimed at any kind of creative woman who struggles to get their project off the ground, whether because of time constraints, work-life balance or the propensity to procrastinate.read more

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Hello & Welcome

I'm Polly, a British travel blogger with my eye on all things cultural and unusual, from museums to markets. I've experienced a metal gig in Reykjavik, seen a bone chapel in Kutna Hora and been to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe nine times. Next up: who knows?